Megaloceros
Quynh Pham 4A
COMMON & SCIENTIFIC NAME
Scientific name: Great Horn
GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
DISTRIBUTION
GROUP
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
CHARACTERISTICS
Eat: Herbivores
Live: Most members of the genus were extremely large animals that favored meadows or open woodlands, with most species averaging slightly below 2 meters at the withers.
INTERESTING FACTS
Length: 3 metres (10 feet) long and 2 metres (6 feet) at the withers
As the name "Irish Elk" implies, the larger species were somewhat similar in general habit to the Europe Elk (Moose) and the American Elk. However, this has by now been shown to be a consequence of their increased size. The actual relationships are with the fallow deer genus Dama, and the genus was part of a Late Neogene Eurasian radiation of fallow deer relatives of which today only 2 taxa remain.
Species:
- M. obscurus
- M. luochuanensis
- M. verticornis
- M. antecedens
- M. pachyosteus
- M. savini
- M. cazioti
- M. dawkinsi
- M. gigantous